Sara Seager, a world authority on the study of atmospheres of extrasolar planets joins Justin Trottier to share how cutting edge research is pushing the frontier not just in discovering planets beyond our solar system, but in starting to actually characterize their attributes like atmosphere and composition.

The two discuss the startlingly diverse zoo of objects out in our galaxy, Dr. Seager’s excitement being part of the team that detected evidence of the first extrasolar planet atmosphere, and most tantalizingly, how we are now on the cusp of being able to identify biosignatures of life as we home in on other Earths out there in space. Dr. Seager also provides some insider information on the pseudoscientific History Channel program Ancient Aliens, on which she’s appeared on several occasions.

On January 25th of this year, the Astronomy and Space Exploration Society based out of the University of Toronto hosted its 10th annual Expanding Canada’s Frontiers symposium, a series that has become a fixture in the city for celebrating achievements in astronomy and space sciences and engineering. This 10th event in the series was a real landmark, focused on the search for life beyond Earth. The Star Spot caught up with Dr. Seager following her presentation on campus, and on an upcoming episode of The Star Spot we will be joined by NASA’s eminent astrobiologist, Dr. Chris McKay, another of the symposium’s keynote speakers.

About Dr. Sara Seager

Dr. Sara Seager is currently professor of astronomy at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology and a world authority on the study of atmospheres on extrasolar planets, the subject of her Harvard University PhD. She’s the recipient of the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society, Harvard’s Bart J. Bok Prize in Astronomy, and named to Popular Science’s Fifth annual brilliant 10. Even more cool, NASA’s planetquest has described Dr. Seager as “an astronomical indiana jones.”

Current in Space

On Current in Space, we comment on the excitement and destruction generated by the recent meteor that shot across the Russian skies and crashed into Chebarkul Lake, followed by a quick update on the ongoing adventures of the Mars Curiosity rover.